


A Heron and His Wolf: A Retelling of Rapunzel

by Rethira



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-29
Updated: 2012-05-29
Packaged: 2017-11-06 06:20:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/415721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rethira/pseuds/Rethira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, there was a heron named Rafiel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Heron and His Wolf: A Retelling of Rapunzel

Once upon a time, there lived a happy family of herons in a beautiful forest. The forest loved them, and they loved the forest, and they all lived there in peace. Even the animals adored the family, and would play gently with them, for the herons were all so delicate and graceful that it seemed as if the very air itself might break them. The only thing that marred the family’s life was that beyond the forest’s borders there lived a great many brutish humans, who would like nothing more than to burn the forest and capture the herons for their own gain.

Time and again the mother-heron warned her children; “Do not stray from the forest’s centre, my darlings, for humans roam the outer edges and would surely cart you away if they should see you.” And indeed, her two daughters listened well to her, and never dared to go too far from their home. But her youngest son, whom she had named Reyson, was of a more adventurous disposition, and his older brother, Rafiel, felt that he should protect his brother, even though he was the frailest of the family. So they often made jaunts nearer to the edges of the forest, despite Rafiel’s protests.

After a time, Reyson became tired of his brother, and hurried off by himself; sure in the knowledge that Rafiel would return home and await him there. But Rafiel was too devoted an older brother to do that, so he searched and searched and came ever nearer to the forest’s edge, calling Reyson’s name all the while.

Unbeknownst to either, human hunters happened to be in that area of the forest, and when they heard Rafiel’s desperate and beautiful cries, they followed them back to their source. And when the hunters set eyes on Rafiel, they knew they had to have him, and quickly set a trap. When Rafiel strayed too close, they sprang it – one of their number leapt out at him, and Rafiel startled into flight, not seeing the net strung between the trees above.

His wings tangled in the net, Rafiel cried out pitifully, just loud enough for Reyson to finally hear him. But although Reyson flew as fast as he could, by the time he reached the spot where Rafiel had been, all that remained were a few broken feathers and human tracks.

Rafiel pleaded with his captors. “Please let me go,” he begged. “I will do anything.” But although their gazes turned lecherous, the hunters refused to free him. Instead the carried Rafiel to the nearest city they could, and they sold his beautiful clothes, and dressed him in rags and when at last they dragged Rafiel onto the auction stand, his beauty was so marred that not even Reyson would have recognised him.

Even so, it was obvious what he was, and the bidding was fast and ferocious – when at last he was sold, it was to an elderly man called Hetzel, who was moved by Rafiel’s great beauty.

“Please let me go,” Rafiel asked, even though he was bruised and battered and so weak even the slightest wind could have pushed him over.

Yet Hetzel found he could not say no to such a beautiful creature; he simply said that Rafiel should wait, until such a time as he was well enough to travel. He gave Rafiel a soft bed, and clean clothes and fed him only the freshest fruits and berries. In time, Rafiel did regain his strength. However, his beautiful wings remained as useless to him as they had been the day he was caught. It hurt old Hetzel to see his beautiful heron stare up at the sky and wish to go home, so he hurried and rushed and one day he returned home and announced that he was taking Rafiel back to the forest.

Rafiel rejoiced then, for he had missed his mother and father and siblings too much for words. He blessed Hetzel a thousand times over, and thanked the goddess that he should have ended up in Hetzel’s care.

But Rafiel’s joy was cut short; not two days after Hetzel told him of the good news, thieves broke into Hetzel’s house. They cooed over Rafiel and although he tried to fight back, they were far too strong for him, and he was soon carried off. The thieves took him far away, past river and hill, through cities and towns, until at last they arrived at a splendid castle.

They spoke briefly with the guards at the gate, and then the thieves laughed to themselves, and picked Rafiel up again and carried him yet further still, until they came upon a lone tower. The tower stretched up, higher than Rafiel could see, and the thieves carried him up the spiral staircase to the very top. Once there, they dropped him on the floor, and picked up the many bags of money that lay strewn upon the floor before leaving.

Sometime later, footsteps upon the stairs roused Rafiel from a fitful sleep. He was still bound, and was most thankful when the ropes were cut.

“Oh no no!” his rescuer cried. “This simply won’t do! To harm such a beautiful creature as you, why it’s unthinkable! Rest assured, my pretty, I will deal with them.”

When Rafiel finally got a good look at the man, he had to hide his flinch, for he knew this person; aside from Hetzel, he was the highest bidder at Rafiel’s auction. The man smiled down at Rafiel, and stroked his hair.

“There, there, my pretty. I have you,” he said. “You’re safe now.”

The man left shortly after, and Rafiel waited until he was sure the man was well gone before he tried to prise the trapdoor open. But it was to no avail; it was bolted shut from underneath. Rafiel tried the windows next, but although there was a small balcony on one, all of them were too high to jump from, and Rafiel’s ruined wings would never save him from a fall such as that.

So Rafiel was forced to wait in his tower, completely alone. The bed was soft and there was plenty of food, but Rafiel would still have preferred another year in Hetzel’s company than this imprisonment.

Presently the man returned. He gave his name as Oliver, and bade Rafiel to call him only that. He brought trinkets, and a bevy of servants, who set about Rafiel’s hair with much satisfaction. All too soon after that, Oliver left again, and Rafiel had nothing to do save to sit and wait and stare up at the pale blue sky.

When Oliver next returned, Rafiel tried to follow him out, and struggled as fiercely as he could. Oliver became most incensed at that, and had the staircase walled up. This served Oliver terribly well, for recently he and several other wealthy men had developed a staff that allowed them to travel quickly and easily from one location to another. So it was that Rafiel could not be called upon whenever Oliver desired it, and Rafiel had no way to escape whatsoever.

When Oliver had somewhat tired of Rafiel, others began to visit. Oliver had a great many influential friends, and they would come in twos and threes to gaze upon Oliver’s imprisoned heron. Rafiel was called to entertain them, forced to sing for their pleasure, or else stand quietly and allow them to gaze upon his beauty. There were some in particular that visited as often as they could; Lekain, Numida and Valtome. They spoke together in hushed gatherings, and stared at Rafiel with hungry gazes, until Rafiel came to dread their visits. He could not shake the feeling that one day, these three – and Oliver as well – would visit a great and terrible thing upon him, and Rafiel knew that when that day came, there would be nothing he could do to stop them.

So Rafiel bore their visits with no little fear, and tried to live as best he could, trapped as he was. When there were no visitors to his tower, Rafiel took to sitting on his balcony and singing. He sang songs for himself, and for his family and the forest; the songs he sang for his visitors were not songs he enjoyed singing, and it showed in his voice. But by himself, his voice rang clear and true and beautiful – animals paused below his tower, birds flitted to and fro and the very plants themselves grew so that they might reach him. Ivy began to cover the tower, reaching up higher than might be expected, but Rafiel knew he could not climb it. He simply did not have the strength, and his wings would hinder him so very much.

So he sang and delighted in the creatures that joined him in his tower, and he missed the forest more and more every day he sang.

One day, as he sang, a great wolf appeared on the horizon. She had pale fur, and was larger than any wolf had any right to be; for a moment, Rafiel was afraid. He was, after all, a heron. But he was up high in his tower, and though squirrels and birds might be able to reach him, no wolf ever could.

Even so, the wolf sat at the base of his tower, and she stared up at him, and when Rafiel sang, she howled with him. This continued for many, many days and nights. But one day, Rafiel could not go to the balcony and sing – Lekain had come, alone, and his gaze filled Rafiel with terror, and his hands were not gentle on Rafiel’s skin. Rafiel cried out then; not a scream, but something far more heart-breaking. And the wolf bayed as loudly as she could, and set to scrabbling at the ivy covered wall. Lekain was startled, and he hurried to the balcony, but when he saw it was just a half blind wolf, he laughed.

“Is this your protector, heron?” he asked. “What a fine protection it makes.”

Rafiel sobbed, for he had come to adore the wolf in his own way, and he couldn’t stand Lekain to speak against her. He made a desperate attempt to flee, but it was all in vain; Valtome and Numida had arrived, and they too laughed down at the furious wolf. They turned their attentions back to Rafiel soon enough, and Rafiel cried through the indignity of it all, until they looked as if they were about to commit the final atrocity.

And then there was a loud and terrible snarl, and the balcony window smashed open, and there stood a woman. She was quite naked, and her face was set with fury; on her head perched two wolf’s ears, and a great wolf’s tail lashed behind her.

She snarled again, and leapt at the men who still surrounded Rafiel, and as she leapt she changed form, until it was the wolf who was upon them. She snapped her great fangs into Lekain’s arm, and her claws rent through Valtome’s robes, and she threw Numida across the room with one swing of her massive head.

When she was finished, the three men lay whimpering in a pile on the floor, their clothes soiled with their own blood. The wolf snapped at them again, in warning, and then she shifted again, and was a woman once more.

“Come,” she said to Rafiel, and in spite of all she had just wrought, Rafiel didn’t even pause to think before he took her hand. She held him tightly in her arms, and when they reached the balcony, she barely paused before leaping from it. Rafiel let out a shocked gasp, but they landed safely on the soft grass. “Hold on to my fur,” the wolf said, as she changed shape. Rafiel did so, clinging to her back, and she ran like the very wind itself.

They came upon a camp eventually, where another wolf sat. This one was black, and he tilted his head curiously at Rafiel before going back to sleep. Rafiel’s wolf settled Rafiel down, before she disappeared into a tent. When she came out, she was dressed, after a fashion. A headscarf hung down over her blind eye, and golden collars hung around her neck. She smiled at Rafiel, so that he might see her teeth, yet he was not afraid.

“I am Nailah,” she said. Her smile became a smirk as she lifted one of Rafiel’s hands to her lips. “Do you have a name?”

“Rafiel,” Rafiel replied. “Will you take me home?”

“It would be an honour,” Nailah agreed. She yipped at the black wolf, and within moments the black wolf was replaced by a shirtless young man, who bowed at Rafiel before swiftly breaking camp. Within only a few moments, any sign that there had been a camp was gone, and the young man was a wolf again, clutching a pack in his jaws. Nailah herself pressed another kiss to Rafiel’s hand, and changed again, before urging Rafiel back upon her.

And then both wolves ran, their paws eating up the distance with ease. After a few hours travel, they set up camp again, and Rafiel sang. Nailah’s howls joined him, and together they sang so beautifully that people from all around paused to listen to their song. The next day, they continued onwards, and repeated their night-time duet, as they did the next night.

After four days of travel, Rafiel finally saw a sight that filled his heart with joy; his forest. He said as much to Nailah, and she ran even faster, until they reached the forest and Rafiel slid from her back to touch the trees of his home. As soon as his hand touched their bark, the very forest itself seemed to come to life; all manner of birds and animals suddenly started calling out, announcing his return, and Rafiel even obtained an escort as he entered. Nailah followed behind him, peering around inquisitively, until they at last reached a clearing in the centre of the forest.

A young woman, with golden hair and wings as white as snow was drawing water from the river, but when she saw Rafiel she dropped her bucket.

“Rafiel!” she cried, and fairly tripped over her feet in her rush to meet him. At her cry the door to the small house slammed open, and more herons came rushing from it, all of them eager to see their long lost Rafiel.

Rafiel hugged them all in turn, and his mother cried to see him again, and he promised to tell them all that had happened. It was then that Reyson noticed the wolf who still lingered on the clearing’s edge. He turned to Rafiel and asked after her, and Rafiel turned to Nailah with an expression of such joy that she couldn’t contain herself, and bounded over to him.

She changed herself again, shifting from wolf to woman in scant few seconds, and she curtseyed quite prettily for Rafiel’s parents. Rafiel’s sisters cooed over her, and they were all smiles and happiness.

Nailah turned to Rafiel then, and kissed his hand; while still bent low over it, her lips barely an inch from Rafiel’s skin, and her bright green eye boring into his, Nailah asked, “Will you do me the honour of becoming my bride, Rafiel? I find the thought of being parted from you fills me with no little horror.”

And Rafiel, even through his embarrassment, managed to squeak, “Yes.”

Their wedding was the talk of the entire forest, and after it was done, they sat beside each other, a heron and his wolf, and they sang.


End file.
